Feed Me Seymore!!!

Today I am going to let you in on my little secret of how to raise 6 kids on a very, very tight budget. When I say tight I am not meaning you middle class people who make $50-$60,000 a year and have two kids and you just can't imagine how people make it with less than $300 a week in groceries. I mean one parent unemployed and one parent going to school full time. The full time parent draws BAH from his GI Bill plus $640 disability from the VA. I mean literally living on $1700 a month. There is no assistance for some people and those people are the ones that figure out real quick how to survive. I will say if you are a health nut, hang this up. Unless you grow it yourself, your not going to find anything in this post about organic. True, it is better for a person, but this is a survival post for everyone who just needs to get by for a while. Here it is. Are you ready for it??? I have two words for you......


Dollar Tree.

Yep, That's It. Total this up for me. Remember everything is $1 there.

• 1 large can of diced tomatoes
• 2 cans of chili
• 1 jar of salsa
• 2 boxes of saltines
• 1 large pack of spaghetti
• 3 large cans of spaghetti sauce
• 2 packs of hamburger buns
• 2 packs of chicken patties
• 2 jars of peanut butter
• 1 jar of jelly
• 4 loaves of bread
• 1 jar of mayo
• 1 jar of dill pickles or relish
• 3 cans of tuna
• 1 pack of tortillas(sometimes I buy 2)
• 2 packs of mozzarella cheese
• 1 pack of pepperoni
• 1 box butter or margarine
• 1 box of Fiddle Faddle (My secret indulgence)
• 3 boxes mashed potatoes with brown gravy mix
• 3 cans of roast beef and gravy
• 1 can of green peas
• 2 cans of carrots
• 2 boxes of ice cream or popsicles
• 2 boxes of instant oatmeal
• 1 bag of rice
• 1 bag of sugar
• 2 cans of peaches
• 2 -6 packs of ramen noodles
• 1 can cranberry sauce
• 2 cans of chicken
• 1 tub of cream cheese
• 2 bottles of shampoo
• 2 bottles of conditioner
• 1 tube of toothpaste

Total: $59 a week without coupons

If you are a couponer it can be cheaper than that now that Dollar Tree takes coupons.

Now for the recipes:

Breakfast Rice

1 bag of white or brown rice (Cook in a crock pot)
Mix in 1 c. sugar and 1 can of peaches with syrup
you can add cinnamon if you like. Don't have any? They have that at Dollar Tree as well.


Chili

2 cans of chili
1 can of salsa
1 big can of diced tomatoes.
Heat on stove until hot. Serve with saltines or unseasoned cooked ramen noodles.

Spaghetti

1 Large pack of Spaghetti noodles
2 cans of sauce

Chicken Patty Sandwich

2 packs of buns
2 backs of breaded chicken patties
Self explanatory

Mini Pizzas The Kids LOVE to make these!!!!!
\
1 can of spaghetti sauce
8 tortillas
shredded mozzarella
pepperoni
Layer and bake in over at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes.



THE BEST CHICKEN SALAD EVER

This one you will have to splurge on somewhere...

1 onion diced(Preferably red)
2 cans of chicken
1 tub cream cheese
2 tbsp.- cranberry sauce
Mix chicken, onion, cream cheese and cranberry sauce together, eat on bread.


Roast Beef Dinner

2 cans of roast beef and gravy
3 boxes mashed potatoes and brown gravy mix
1 can of peas
2 cans of carrots

Mix potatoes as package directs. Mix up gravy mix as package directs. When you are finished with gravy mix in the cans of roast beef in the gravy. Mix peas and carrots together and BAM, you have roast beef with gravy, mashed potatoes, with peas and carrots!!!

Tuna Salad

2 cans of tuna
Pickles or relish
 2 tbsp. Mayo

Mix up and serve on crackers or as a sandwich


There you have it folks! Most of the time there are even leftovers for someone the next day. It is possible to go even cheaper than that, but I tried to give a variety of meal ideas for you to use. I hope you enjoy the recipes.

The Silence

Silently Insane.....That's what my mother said to me once when the kids were running through the house screaming and I sat there like it didn't even phase me. I suspect pharmaceutical companies are just like kids at the end of the school year; jumping up and down yelling,"Whoo Hoo! School is out! Sales are going up!" There is not a doubt in my mind that anxiety medication use probably quadruples by August of every year. I just go to my happy place and ignore the chaos for two months then clean up the aftermath when it's over. This week I have had nine children in my home. Only two were under the age of 11. That means I have dealt with enough teenage drama to last a lifetime. In one week I have been through a break-up, a get together (or two), two girlfriends falling out and making up, two sisters fighting a brutal battle over a pair of shorts, catching two teenagers making out, a sprained knee, two girls on their periods at the same time, a yellow jacket attack (two stings), an escaped rabbit, a misplaced phone, a baby boy dressed in pink, One neighborhood kid who has a Pica problem and likes to eat my laundry detergent, a 2nd degree sunburn, 2 UTI's (One was mine on top of everything.), 7 am, "Mama, I'm hungry", a diaper rash, the loss of the only tube of toothpaste, 2 kids that don't like tomatoes, when I had a 5 gallon bucket of tomatoes that needed to be eaten before they spoiled,  24 rolls of toilet paper, the disappearance of 7 Mike's Hard Lemonades out of my fridge (No question in who took them.), pen marks on my BRAND NEW sofa, a broken Scentsy warmer, not to mention the constant nailing and sawing on the sheet rock that is getting fixed due to a flood that occurred back in February....Whew! Yes, I might be a little silent at times. During those moments I am in a Adirondack chair, lounging on the beach, and sipping a margarita. It is my protest to the pharmaceutical companies. Na Na Na Boo Boo, I win! You aren't getting my money, because it has to be spent on the five sets of uniforms before school starts back next month along with six sets of school supplies. Yes, even Dubbs, the one year old contributes to the silence.  So while I write this, Ariana Grande blares through the house as kids are actually cleaning up their mess from last night. (One has a boyfriend coming over.) It's LOUD in here, but I'm quietly writing in my peaceful bliss of silent insanity.

The Nerd Herd

I admit it. I am a nerd to the very core of my soul as well as my husband and a couple of my kids. I love to read and we all are serious about Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and Supernatural. My fifteen year old falls into the black sheep category. In your household I would be willing to bet your idea of that is  different from mine.

Before Christmas this year, I went shopping for the kids at the mall. I walked into Hot Topic and immediately found a complete wardrobe for my seventeen year old. Within five minutes I had picked out t-shirts for all of my step sons and my twelve year old daughter. Then I realized my fifteen year old daughter Merlyn had been left out of the teenage mix. I looked frantically everywhere in the store for something. Nothing fit her taste. The sales associate came up to me and this was the conversation that followed:

Associate:  Can I help you find something?
Me: Well, you see I have a black sheep in the family. I don't really know what to get her in here.
Associate: Well you came to the right place.
Me: Actually I'm thinking I better go over to Hollister.

You could have knocked her over with a feather.

Me: You see, in my family she is the black sheep because she's kinda preppy.

The girl laughed and took me over to a section that had Disney t-shirts. I smiled and picked out Merlyn a cute Aerial t-shirt that will go great with her designer leggings. I paid for my items and left the store.

On Christmas as everyone opened up their Hot Topic goodies, I could see the horrification building as Merlyn saw the tags. When she opened her box, she let out a deep breath and smiled.

Merlyn: You had me worried for a minute.
Me: What? You didn't want a Fourth Doctor scarf like I got Toni?
Merlyn: Not funny.

Later that day as we were all relaxing I walked into the living room and the girls were arguing over the TV.

Liberty: I want to watch McKenna.
Merlyn: You have watched it twice today already! I am NOT watching that again.
Me: What are you trying to watch?
Merlyn: Star Wars!

Oh what a chronicle. It appears that even though some kids have a protective shell to the outside world that makes them appear like they are one thing. Some of them are truly closet nerds. I laughed at the situation as I popped in Star Wars: Episode 3 and enjoyed watching the demise of Anakin Skywalker with my nerd herd.